


Overcoming Great Fear

by AGirlNamedEd



Series: Green Lantern's Light [1]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Gen, Gohan probably shouldn't be as desensitized to weird shit as he is, Green Lantern Gohan, I really hope there's not already a DBZ character named Kuji, Lantern Corps Fusion AU, that would be awkward, well here it is everyone, who's ready to suffer with me?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-04 17:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6668521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGirlNamedEd/pseuds/AGirlNamedEd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Son Gohan of Earth, you have the power to overcome great fear."</i>
</p><p> </p><p>It's been a few weeks since Gohan, Bulma, and the others got back to Earth after Namek exploded. It's a time of relative peace, during which all six-year-old Gohan has to do is wait for the Dragon Balls to be ready so they can wish their friends back to life and get the remaining Namekians a new planet. He spends his time divided between studying with his mother and playing with Dende.</p><p>Except then an alien crashes into the planet, hands Gohan a ring, and dies, leaving behind a legacy Gohan is definitely not prepared for and a million questions.</p><p>(Green Lantern Corps Fusion AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kuji of Namek

**Author's Note:**

> WELL.  
> I've not shut up about this on tumblr for a little bit and now I'm actually posting it despite the fact that I ALREADY have a trash AU I'm supposed to be working on. I'm planning on doing this as a series--this will likely be the shortest part of it, planned for 3 chapters, but the later installments will probably be spanning an entire saga each and will therefore be longer.  
> That is if I don't get distracted by another shiny AU like I often do.

Three weeks.

Three weeks had passed since her baby boy had come home from space, bringing a whole slew of aliens with him. Her Goku hadn’t come home with him, but she took comfort in knowing he would soon. And Gohan was home, he was safe, he was with her, and she could breathe easier knowing that. As a matter of fact, he was sitting at the kitchen table while she tidied up, working on a book of math problems. They seemed rather advanced for a boy of six, but her Gohan was a smart kid, and he’d hardly had any problems with it so far.

Yes, life was going just fine for Son Chi-Chi now that things had settled down a little. But she couldn’t help but wonder when everything would be thrown into chaos again. That always seemed to happen to her family.

No. For right now, she was going to clean her kitchen and spend time with her son. If anything happened, surely it wouldn’t be drastic enough that they couldn’t handle themselves without relying on Goku.

“I’m done,” Gohan declared, pushing his book away. He was still so little—his feet dangled off the chair, a good foot off the floor, as he looked at her expectantly. Chi-Chi always checked his work when he was done, then they went over any problems he’d gotten wrong together so he could learn what he needed to work on. She wondered how long she’d be able to keep doing that, though—he was quickly becoming better at scholarly pursuits than she and Goku had ever been.

“Alright,” she said, drying her hands on her apron. “Let’s take a look.”

Gohan had only gotten one question wrong: “91-__=36” was 55, not 56. She beamed at him. “Good job, honey! Well, the rest of the afternoon is yours! What would you like to do?” She knew exactly what he wanted to do, but asked anyway.

Just like she expected, he smiled up at her and asked “Can I go to Capsule Corp and see Dende?”

Chi-Chi fought back a sigh. She didn’t like Gohan spending so much time there. Nothing against Bulma or the Briefs family in general, they were all lovely people. Or even anything against the Namekians, Piccolo excepted, they were generally peaceful and always had a kind word for her when she was there. But Piccolo was also at Capsule Corp most of the time, and so was Vegeta. Chi-Chi wasn’t ready to forget what those two had done. They were dangerous, and she didn’t like Gohan being around them so much.

She also didn’t want Gohan getting too attached to Dende. He’d be leaving eventually, and when he did she knew it would break her son’s little heart. But it was a little late for that, if she was being honest. Gohan and Dende hadn’t even known each other for a month and they were already practically inseparable. She wasn’t that surprised, if she was being honest with herself; bonds forged in times of crisis can be very strong.

But she didn’t have a real reason to say no, so she nodded. “Be sure to call if you’re staying there for dinner,” she said.

He leapt to his feet and hugged her around her middle. “Thanks, Mom! I’ll be back later!”

“Be safe,” she called after him as he flew out the door and took to the sky.

~~~

The tiny craft hurtled through space, movement jerky and haphazard, mirroring the condition of its single occupant. He struggled to keep control of his ship, but it was difficult with a gaping wound in his side, dripping purple blood all over the cockpit seat. His vision blurred and his body throbbed, and for a moment he was sure he was too late, he wouldn’t make it, but he blinked and the moment passed.

He had to make it to the closest planet in his sector, if nothing else. He thought of his home planet, with its beautiful green skies and lush foliage, the people he’d left behind, and though it saddened him to think he would never see them again, it would take too long to get there and he would definitely bleed out before he arrived. Checking the small diagnostic screen again, he allowed himself a small sigh. He—and the ship—would last just long enough to the closest planet, Earth.

He’d avoided Earth for much of his tenure, as had his predecessor. He’d been told that Earth’s Guardian didn’t like either visitors or outsiders, and he was both. Besides, the little blue planet had a Guardian. Surely it could take care of itself.

Strange, then, that it would be the last planet he saw.

Holding the ring on his right hand in front of his face, he started recording. “To the Green Lanterns who receive this message,” he began, “I am Kuji of Namek, Lantern of Sector 2814, and I am about to die.”

~~~

Gohan’s mom worried about him too much. Although, he supposed, she did have good reason to. Just over a year and a half ago he’d been a shy crybaby. But he was six now, a big kid, and he’d been to space and he and his dad and his teacher were aliens and that was a lot to take in. But, he thought as he touched down on Capsule Corp’s front lawn, things were looking up! They’d saved most of the population of Namek, and Piccolo was back, and his dad would be soon too. And surely nothing crazy could happen right now. They were all still winding down from this bout of craziness.

Mrs. Briefs was the one to open the door when he knocked. “Why, hello there, Gohan!” she exclaimed, ushering him inside. “Just you today? No Mommy?”

“Mom said I could come,” Gohan quickly assured her. Once he’d snuck out to see Dende and the others without Chi-Chi’s permission. Once.

“Alright, sweetie. Dende’s out back. I’ll bring you a snack later!”

He waved frantically, trying to dissuade her. Mrs. Briefs was always so generous when he came over, and he was there almost every day. “Oh, no, Mrs. Briefs, you don’t have to do that, I’ll be fine.” Gohan’s stomach growled loudly and he blushed. He hadn’t eaten in over an hour.

“Nonsense!” She smiled at him, and he flushed darker and dug a toe into the floor. “You go on out back, now. I’ve just made lemonade for Bulma and my husband; I’ll bring a glass out for you soon.” She shooed him down the hallway and disappeared into the kitchen. Deciding not to waste any more time arguing, Gohan scarpered down the corridor. The sooner he got there, the more time he’d have to spend with Dende and Piccolo.

~~~

Earth had deserts.

Kuji’s pain-muddled brain decided that was an important fact to file away. His craft had crashed in a sea of sand. From space, which was how Kuji had seen the planet until just now, Earth looked like it was mostly made of water. But apparently there was enough land space to not only support its booming populations, but to have deserts. He would have found that fascinating if he’d been in almost any other situation.

It took three kicks, which was admittedly only one kick more than usual, to get Kuji’s cockpit door open. His breathing was heavy and his vision was getting spottier and spottier. There wasn’t much time. Pressing the ring on his finger into the lantern next to him, he took a deep breath. “Find an heir,” he rasped, “one who can overcome great fear. Bring them to me.”

A burst of green light shot out of the lantern and disappeared, and all Kuji could do was wait and hope.

~~~

Piccolo liked to pretend he wasn’t glad to see Gohan when he came to see him, but Gohan wasn’t fooled. It had taken a while, but he’d learned that while Piccolo either ignored others who came to see him or turned away from them, when Gohan came to see him he would actually engage him in conversation, terse as it was. Sometimes he even allowed himself to be dragged into games of tag or hide and seek with Gohan and Dende if they could convince him it was training. Very seldom were the times when Gohan wouldn’t see Piccolo out of his peripheral vision when he was visiting Capsule Corp, even if Piccolo thought he was being stealthy. If he asked Piccolo about it, he got huffy and denied all knowledge.

Dende, on the other hand, came running to Gohan the moment he appeared like he hadn’t seen him less than a day ago. “Gohan!” He immediately had Gohan by the hands. “You’re back!”

“Sure I’m back.” Gohan swung their arms side to side. “Do you wanna play or read today?”

Dende’s brow furrowed and he stared at the ground in thought. When he looked back up, his eyes were full of mischief. He reached out and bopped Gohan on the forehead. “You’re it!” he declared, bolting away.

“No fair!” Gohan shouted, starting after him—

And suddenly he was enveloped in a ball of green light. He was knocked onto his backside and scarcely had enough time to register Dende’s terrified face on the other side of his energy prison before he was whisked upwards and onwards. He shouted and kicked at the sides of the ball, but to no avail. Firing ki at things made of pure energy probably wouldn’t end well--best case scenario he’d break through, worst case his blast would bounce back and hit him. He was trapped.

_Son Gohan of Earth._ The voice was in Gohan’s mind, like the few times Piccolo had talked to him telepathically, but it was definitely not Piccolo’s voice. _You have the power to overcome great fear._

“What?” said Gohan, right before something slammed into the front of the sphere. It was Piccolo, arms braced in front of him, throwing his entire body weight against the ball to make it stop.

“Don’t worry, kid, I’ve got you,” he heard him say. But he didn’t have Gohan, not really, because despite Piccolo’s best efforts, the ball was still hurtling along at breakneck speed. Gohan’s heart beat wildly and he listened intently to see if the voice would come back and explain itself. It didn’t.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the energy ball disappeared and Gohan was dropped unceremoniously onto the sand. Piccolo was immediately in front of him, staying just far enough away that it was clear he _wanted_ to reach out and make sure Gohan was okay, but wouldn’t. “You’re alright, kid,” he told him instead. Shaking, Gohan nodded and pulled himself to his feet. He didn’t trust his voice not to squeak just yet. What had just happened? “I think I recognize this place,” Piccolo continued, looking around. “I used to train here sometimes.”

Gohan pointed at something behind Piccolo. “Was the spaceship always here, or is that new?”

He shouldn’t have enjoyed the double take he got out of Piccolo at that as much as he did. Startling Piccolo was hard. “That’s…new,” he conceded. It certainly didn’t look new. It was beat up and pieces were falling off, and sand had fused into glass in a trail behind it, probably from when it crashed into the sand dune.

Something inside it was moving.

Gohan scampered up the dune to take a look. “Hold on,” Piccolo started, but Gohan was already at the open door and peering inside.

There was a Namekian lying on the floor inside, bleeding badly from a wound in his side. Gohan’s hands flew to his face. “Piccolo!” he shouted. “He’s badly hurt!”

“You’re the one it chose?”

Gohan blinked as Piccolo appeared beside him. “Pardon?”

The Namekian squinted up at Piccolo, then his eyes widened in recognition. “Nail? What are you doing on Earth?”

Piccolo scowled. Every so often, one of the Namekians staying at Capsule Corp would refer to him as Nail, and it inevitably ended with him snarling and stalking off. “No. I’m not Nail, but I recognise you from his memories. You’re Kuji. You left Namek around a century ago.”

Kuji’s ear twitched. “Yes, that’s right.” He started to say something else, but started coughing instead. Purple blood trickled down his chin.

Gohan looked up at Piccolo. “How far is it to Master Korin’s?”

Piccolo shook his head. “Too far. He wouldn’t make it.”

Kuji suddenly grabbed Gohan’s hand and pressed something into it. When Gohan looked, he was holding a green ring. “The ring chose you, Son Gohan of Earth,” Kuji said. “You are one with the power to overcome great fear.”

Gohan shuddered. He now recognized Kuji’s voice as the one in his head on the way here. “I don’t understand,” he said, trying to hand the ring back. “Chose me? Great fear? Piccolo, don’t you have _any_ Senzu on you?”

“Oh, right, because I just carry _those_ around all the time. Yeah, I won a lifetime supply of them a while back, didn’t you know?”

“Please, listen,” Kuji pleaded, “I don’t have long left.”

“What happened to you?” Gohan asked.

“I left Namek over a hundred years ago to become a part of the Green Lantern Corps.” He turned the ring over in Gohan’s hand, and he saw a simplistic lantern design carved into it. “We are an intergalactic team protecting the universe from evil. I need you to take my place.”

Piccolo snorted. “Fat load of help you lot were against Frieza.”

“The Galactic Patrol has rejected our offers of help countless times. That’s on them.”

Gohan shook his head. “I can’t. I can’t be some sort of space cop! I’m only six years old! I’m still learning basic addition!”

“You can, and you will.” Kuji pointed. “The battery. Take it, hold the ring to it, speak the oath.” Gohan leaned over and just to the side, under the pilot’s seat, was a battered green lantern. “Please. You must. There is no one else.”

“There has to be!”

“There isn’t,” Kuji insisted. “If the ring chose you, then it chose you.” He coughed again, then sucked in a reedy breath, and his eyes went glassy for a long moment. Then they focused intently on Gohan’s face again. “The oath. Quickly.”

Gohan swallowed. His eyes flicked from Kuji to the lantern to Piccolo and back to Kuji again. _Overcome great fear,_ Kuji had said. He slid the ring onto his right middle finger.

“You don’t have to,” Piccolo started.

“I…” Gohan wet his lips and looked up at his teacher. “I think I do.” He looked back at Kuji. “Alright, what oath--”

Kuji wasn’t moving.

Shrieking, Gohan threw himself backwards, crashing into Piccolo and sending them tumbling backwards out of the ship. “Come on, kid,” Piccolo grumbled as he picked himself up, “it’s not like you’ve never seen a dead body before.”

“It doesn’t get any easier,” Gohan whispered. He yelped when Piccolo grabbed him by his shirt collar and yanked him to his feet. “I can stand, I can stand!”

“Get your damn battery.” Piccolo’s language instantly went south whenever there weren’t any adults around. “We’re leaving.”

Gohan pulled himself into the spaceship again, carefully avoiding contact with Kuji’s body. “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, bury him or something?”

“You think I know Namekian death customs? We’ll leave him here and let the saps at Capsule Corp deal with him.”

As soon as Gohan’s hand closed around the lantern’s handle, a million voices sounded in his head and he blacked out.

~~~

Dende flew up to meet Piccolo as he approached Capsule Corp. “What happened? Is everything alright?” He noticed Gohan’s comatose body tucked under Piccolo’s arm. “Gohan! Is he okay? What--”

“Stop yammering,” Piccolo snapped. Dende’s mouth immediately snapped shut. Piccolo landed and laid Gohan on the ground with surprising gentleness. He looked at Dende and pointed at Gohan. “You’re a healer. Wake him up.”

Dende twisted his hands in his robe. “I don’t know that that’s how it works--”

“Just do something!”

Dende looked up at him. Piccolo was angry, yes, but there was a lot of concern and a dash of panic in there as well. He was just as worried about Gohan as Dende, but wouldn’t admit it even on threat of death.

He lit his hands with a healing light and cast it out over the boy who had become so important to him. It took a worrying few minutes, but finally Gohan’s eyes fluttered, his face scrunched up, and he suddenly sat bolt upright with a shout. Dende clasped his hands together. “You’re awake!”

“What the hell was that?” Piccolo demanded. Dende looked from Gohan to Piccolo, hoping one of them would provide an explanation. Neither did.

Gohan blinked groggily at his surroundings. “How did we get back to Capsule Corp?”

“Guess.”

He scratched the side of his face and looked down. “I don’t know what happened. There were a bunch of voices in different languages and there were so many of them I couldn’t understand what they were saying.” He bit his lip. "I wish Kuji could've explained more...I'm so confused."

Dende frowned. “Who is Kuji?”

To his surprise, Gohan looked sheepish. “Oh. Um. Right. Dende, where’s Moori?”

“With the others,” Dende said, pointing. “Why?”

Gohan stood up. “I should talk to him.” He looked around. “Piccolo, what happened to the battery?”

Piccolo shoved a lantern that Dende hadn’t noticed him holding at Gohan. “If you pass out again I’m leaving you here.”

Tentatively, Gohan wrapped his fingers around the handle. Nothing happened. From how Piccolo and Gohan had acted about it, Dende had expected some sort of fanfare or explosion. Gohan nodded at Piccolo and ran off towards the rest of the Namekians.

Dende looked up at Piccolo. “What just happened?”

Scowling, Piccolo folded his arms, keeping his gaze directed at Gohan’s disappearing back. “Apparently, Gohan just got a job.”


	2. Kojass Selir of Manal 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aliens really, _really_ like the Son family. Chi-Chi is less than impressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Nostalgia Critic voice* Exposition, exposition, rush it out ASAP...

Chi-Chi hadn’t been impressed when Gohan came home covered in sand and holding a beat-up lantern, but she’d cleaned the lantern up and told him to go take a bath before dinner. Freshly washed, Gohan sat at the kitchen table and turned the ring over in his hands while she cooked. Bulma had wanted to keep and study it, but Gohan felt like he should keep it with him. With his mother’s permission, he’d go back to Capsule Corp first thing in the morning so she could take a look at it.

He was still reeling from everything that had happened. If only they’d been able to get him a Senzu, or even just to Dende and the other Namekians. As it was, when the Namekian Dragon Balls were ready to be used again, they’d need all the wishes they could get, and Earth’s Dragon Balls couldn’t bring someone back if they’d died over a year ago, so by the time they were ready to be used again it’d be too late to bring Kuji back. Plus, Moori had wanted to bring his body back with them so he could be properly buried on his home planet, even if it wasn’t really the same home planet anymore. So here Gohan sat, an alien power ring in his hands, yet another strange situation tossed in his lap with no warning. He was almost used to it by now, and something told him he shouldn’t really be used to stuff like this at his age.

Gohan still had so many questions, too. Kuji had never told him what the “oath” he was supposed to say was, or what the ring even did. He held the ring up to the lantern to see if anything would happen. Nothing did. So the ring’s power _was_ unlocked by some kind of verbal command. Fascinating!

But the oath could be anything. For all Gohan knew, it was “oh great Lantern, by your name I summon you.” It also could’ve been in a language he didn’t speak. Kuji was Namekian--maybe his lantern only powered up if spoken to in Namekian, like the Dragon Balls. He slipped the ring on again and tapped it against the side of the lantern. Still nothing.

Suddenly brilliant green light burst forth from the sides and Gohan yelped and fell over backwards, Chi-Chi immediately snatching the lantern from its place on the kitchen table and chucking it out the window. Then she lunged to grab Gohan, curling her body around his and squeezing him tight to her.

Nothing happened.

Slowly, carefully, she unwrapped herself from around him and stood up. Gohan looked up at her. Chi-Chi was frowning out the window she’d thrown the lantern through. “Guess it wasn’t gonna explode,” she muttered, and Gohan wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or herself. She helped him up. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay, Mom. It just startled me, that’s all.” Gohan dusted off his backside. “I’m gonna go get it.”

“If it starts glowing again,” Chi-Chi instructed, “you throw it as high as you can. Away from you, away from the house. Into space if you have to. Got it?”

“Yes, Mom.”

The lantern had landed in a tree branch several feet away from the house. Chi-Chi had a great throwing arm. Gohan floated up to it and picked it up. The voices from before hadn’t returned since the first time he picked it up, and he wondered what they’d all meant. He’d thought he could just make out a few words he understood, but he’d passed out from the sudden stress on his brain before he could focus on them. He almost wished they’d come back and explain what he was supposed to do with it.

Gohan landed at the base of the tree and set the lantern down in front of him. “Well, if you want to tell me something,” he said, “now would be the time.”

Nothing happened.

He held the ring to the inside of the lantern. “It’s an oath, right?” He thought about oaths he knew, but he couldn’t think of any. “I promise to be, um, loyal and true to the uh…” He trailed off. “Green Lantern Squad? Corps,” he corrected himself. “Green Lantern Corps.”

Still nothing. Gohan opened his mouth to try again when the same green light shone forth from the lantern. Instead of throwing it into the air like his mother had told him, Gohan found himself transfixed by the light, unable to look at anything else.

“In brightest day,” he said, and it was weird, he was saying the words but they weren’t really _his_ words and he had no idea where they were coming from, “in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.” Was this the oath Kuji was talking about? Why did he suddenly know it? “Let those who worship evil’s might…” Add it to the ever-growing list of questions Gohan wished he could ask someone. “...Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!”

The light dissipated as quickly as it came, and Gohan lowered his hand, which he hadn’t even realized he’d been pointing straight out in front of him towards the lantern. Well. He knew the oath now, apparently.

“Gohan!”

His head snapped up and Chi-Chi was charging towards him, eyes wide and panicked. “Are you okay? Why didn’t you throw it away?!”

“I...I couldn’t,” Gohan said, still a little dazed.

“And what happened to your clothes?”

He blinked. “My what?” He looked down at himself and squeaked with surprise. Instead of the overalls and t-shirt he’d put on after his bath, he had some kind of green bodysuit. There were white stripes on his gloves and in the middle of his chest was the same stylized lantern logo as was on the ring. “I don’t know.”

The ring was still glowing a little. Chi-Chi pointed at it. “Take it off. None of this is okay and it needs to stop _right now_. And what if it’s radioactive or something?”

“I don’t think it’s radioactive.” But he tugged it off his finger anyway--or tried to. “Um, Mom? It’s stuck.”

Apparently ignoring her fear of potential radiation, Chi-Chi grabbed the ring with both hands and yanked. “Ow!”

“Sorry, dear.” She released his hand and he rubbed his finger gingerly. “It’s stuck on there real good,” she confirmed. “Better not be radioactive, because I don’t think it’s comin’ off anytime soon.”

Gohan shook his hand, but nothing happened. “It doesn’t want to come off.”

“It’s not _alive_ , Gohan.” She started to say something else, but was interrupted by the sound of an approaching engine. They looked towards the sound and saw some kind of flying craft heading for the house. “Oh, good,” Chi-Chi said, relaxing just a bit for the first time since Gohan had come home that afternoon. “That’ll be Bulma. If nothing else, she’ll have some ideas.”

Gohan bit his lip. Bulma had said she’d study the ring in her lab tomorrow. Why would she come all the way out to Mount Paozu? There was only one ki in the craft, small enough that he hadn’t noticed it until now, but definitely bigger than Bulma’s. And as the ship drew nearer, it was clear to see it wasn’t a Capsule Corp design--they tended to be rounded and smooth; this was far more angular. The Capsule Corp logo was nowhere in sight either. “I don’t think that’s Bulma,” he said quietly.

Chi-Chi had clearly come to the same conclusion, if her face was anything to go by. The craft landed on the other side of the house, and Chi-Chi squared her shoulders. “Stay here,” she instructed before striding purposefully off towards it. Gohan hesitated, then scrambled to his feet and followed her.

She frowned down at him when he fell into step beside her, then sighed. “You are your father’s son,” she said, shaking her head. “Too curious for your own good sometimes.” But she didn’t try to stop him.

As they approached the ship, a panel in the side slid away and a bright orange quadruped strutted out. Its legs were long and gangly and reverse-jointed, ending in giant claw-tipped paws. A skinny humanoid torso jutted out from the front of its body, with stick-like arms. Its head looked too big for its body and looked almost like a furry basketball with a short snout, but no eyes. Aside from its hands, feet, and head, its whole body was covered with a green bodysuit with a simplistic lantern emblazoned on the chest. It only had three fingers on each hand, and on one finger was a familiar-looking ring.

Gohan clapped his hands over his mouth. Another member of the Green Lantern Troops! _Corps,_ he reminded himself. _Green Lantern Corps._

The alien turned its head towards Gohan, and even though it had no eyes he got the distinct feeling that it was looking at him. “Are you Kuji’s successor?” it asked.

Before Gohan could answer, Chi-Chi had planted herself firmly between him and the alien. “Who wants to know?”

It paused. “I am here on official Lantern business--”

“That’s nice and all,” Chi-Chi’s accent always came out when she was angry, “but you’re here on _my_ property lookin’ for _my_ son and not even introducin’ yerself first. So I’ll ask again: who wants ta know?”

Folding its hands in front of itself, it inclined its head. “Very well. You raise a good point. I am Kojass Selir of Manal 7, Lantern of Sector 2815. I received a message from Kuji, the Lantern of this sector. He said he was dying, and that he would be choosing a human successor.” Kojass sniffed the air. “Something smells...off.”

Gohan stood beside his mother. “I’m only half-human.”

“That would explain it.” Kojass sniffed again, then the corners of its mouth turned down in a frown. “That can’t be right. Saiyans are extinct.”

Gohan dug his toe into the ground. “Not exactly.”

“Well. That’s not good.” It sighed, running a hand across its face. “I can't believe our information is out of date. I’ll ask about that later. You’d be Kuji’s successor, then.”

“Yes,” Gohan said before Chi-Chi could stop him. If this alien could explain what was happening (and maybe help him get the ring off) he was going to jump on this chance. “He crashed in a desert not far from here and dragged me out there to give me his ring.”

“What’s your name?”

“Gohan.”

Kojass gangled towards him and Chi-Chi slipped between them again. “Back off,” she told it. “If you have something to say you can say it from over there.”

“Mom, it’s fine--”

“It’s not _fine_! It’s the exact opposite of fine!”

“I understand this can be a lot to take in,” Kojass said gently. “Especially for a planet that has yet to join the galactic community.”

“I’ve been to space,” Gohan piped up. “I just got back. And we’ve got all the Namekians on our planet, too, because theirs blew up.”

That gave Kojass pause. “Oh,” it said, “I see. It seems we have much to discuss.”

Gohan held his hand out towards Kojass. “I can’t get the ring to come off. I have so many questions!”

“Hopefully I can provide answers for them. You’ll need to come with me to the Green Lantern headquarters, on the planet--”

“No.” Chi-Chi folded her arms. “I’m putting my foot down here. He’s my only child, and I’m _through_ sending him off into space!”

“This is not your decision to make--”

“ _The hell it’s not!_ I’m his _mother_ , you furry green menace! Whatever you have to say, you can say it _here_ , on his _home planet_. You don’t need to go to space for an explanation!”

“It’s not just an explanation,” Kojass said. “If he’s going to join the Lantern Corps, he’s going to need training. The ring’s power is massive, but if not trained properly, it could potentially be disastrous.”

Gohan wrung his hands and looked down. “I agree with Mom,” he said quietly. “I can’t go back to space--not right now--I just got back and I almost died and--I want to stay here.”

Chi-Chi’s entire being relaxed slightly. Her ki had flared with her temper, but now it settled back down. “Thank you, Gohan. See?” she said to Kojass. “You can talk to Gohan here, or not at all.”

Kojass gave a long-suffering sigh. “Very well. Son Gohan, what do you already know of the Green Lantern Corps?”

“Not much,” Gohan admitted. “Just that the Green Lanterns are like...space police, and that I had to take his place in the Team. Corps. Kuji died before he could tell me much. I only just figured out the oath.”

“On your own? Interesting.” Kojass stroked its chin. “I’ve heard of that happening in circumstances like this. But usually the battery provides all the information required for a new Lantern. Did yours not?”

Gohan glanced back at where he’d left the lantern. “When I first picked it up, I heard a bunch of voices in my head.”

“A bunch?” Kojass sounded surprised. “How many?”

“I don’t know. Thousands.”

It tapped a finger on the end of its nose, clearly deep in thought. “You said you were only half human, correct?” Gohan nodded. “And the other half of you is Saiyan?” He nodded again. “That might be it. Due to your unique biology, the battery probably didn’t know what language to speak in and decided to try all of them at once.”

“Oh.” Gohan fiddled with his ring. “That would explain it, I guess.”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong. The Green Lantern Corps are an intergalactic peacekeeping team, using our rings to channel our willpower and create constructs to fight against evil.” It held out its hand, ring pointed towards the sky, and a brilliant burst of green light shone forth, forming itself into an image of Gohan’s face. Gohan started, but stared, fascinated. It was definitely the same sort of energy that the bubble Kuji put him in was made from, and he couldn’t sense anything from it at all. It wasn’t a matter of hiding the energy signature--Kojass was doing nothing of the sort with its own ki--it just didn’t _have_ an energy signature, despite being made of energy. “The power in the ring is limited only by your imagination. You need merely to imagine something to create it.” It gestured at Gohan, the image of his face that it had conjured disappearing. “Try.”

Swallowing, Gohan held up his own ring. He tried to think of something to make, but his mind went blank. The only thing he could think of to make was--well, maybe it was a bit much for the first construct. But then again, what was the harm in trying?

Bursting forth from his outstretched hand came an enormous dragon, long and serpentine and muscular. With a roar, it twisted into the air above his house, turning to look down at them. Chi-Chi stumbled away a few steps, Kojass taking an involuntary step back as well.

“What,” Kojass said, face upturned, “in the name of the Guardians is that?”

Gohan beamed up at it. “Great Porunga! He’s the dragon that grants wishes from the Namekian Dragon Balls. He was…” Suddenly self-conscious, Gohan fidgeted and looked down. “He was all I could think of. Too much?”

“That’s phenomenal,” Kojass breathed. “Your first attempt and already so much control, even without training.”

“I’m, uh.” Gohan waved his hand and Porunga disappeared. “I’ve got a pretty good imagination.”

“Clearly.” Kojass folded its arms and tapped its foot. “Well. That handles that, I suppose. Your will is strong for someone so young. Listen, you want more answers, yes?”

Gohan nodded, hands clenched into excited fists in front of him.

“Then let’s make this an equivalent exchange of information. You need to know more about the cause you find yourself a part of; I need to know how there’s a Saiyan on Earth. A half-Saiyan, at that.”

“Oh,” Gohan said, “that’s easy. My dad’s a Saiyan.”

Kojass paused. “Is he.”

“Yeah. He’s, um,” Gohan swallowed, “he’s dead right now. But he’ll be back! Soon! Real soon!” Kojass said nothing. Gohan got the impression it didn’t believe him. That didn’t matter. Gohan wasn’t going to explain about the Dragon Balls and everything that had happened in the last two years. “Anyway he came here as a baby and was raised on Earth.”

“Then we got married and had Gohan,” Chi-Chi explained. “Goku didn’t even know he was Saiyan until a couple years ago.”

“And what of Namek?” Kojass asked. “You said the Namekians were living here. What happened to their planet?”

Gohan folded his arms and glared up at it. “Oh, no. I answered your question, now it’s your turn to answer mine.”

To his surprise, Kojass laughed. “Fair enough!”

~~~

Gohan lay on his back on his bed, staring at the ring still on his finger. Kojass had shown him how to get it off (“sometimes it takes a while after finding a new owner for a ring to adjust,” it’d explained, “so it attaches itself until it’s acclimatized”), how to change in and out of his uniform, and even how to modify the uniform to his preferences. Gohan had added a white collar like the one on the outfit Piccolo made for him, changed the colour of his accents to white, and moved the lantern symbol on his chest so it was smaller and over his heart, like the turtle symbol on his dad’s gi. It suited him better than the generic uniform the ring originally provided him with; even Chi-Chi had said so.

Kojass also spent a few hours helping him get used to his ring. How to make an aura around yourself (or someone else) to survive any conditions--even the vacuum of space. Firing bolts of energy (it was surprised to learn Gohan could already do that on his own when Gohan showed him the Masenko). Flying (it was less surprised that Gohan could already do that). “You already have more experience in flying combat and energy manipulation than some who have been in the Corps for years,” it said. “I have relatively little to teach you.” Gohan had beamed with pride.

It also told him more about the Namekian who had given Gohan his ring. “Kuji was a fine warrior,” it said, more than a little pride and wistfulness in its voice. “Strong, proud, always wanting to do the right thing. Hated to see good people suffer. Sometimes he’d be put in charge of training new Lanterns with Gowollik, and they’d get a good-cop-bad-cop thing going, and he’d find himself with a gaggle of new Lanterns following him around because he was so nice to them when they were just starting out.” Kojass paused. “I think half of us would have thrown ourselves into a sun if Kuji asked us to. His death will be a hard blow to the rest of the Corps.”

In exchange, Gohan told it about the fight on Namek, how Frieza was defeated (“by a Saiyan?!” Kojass said. “Unbelievable! How did the Corps not find out about this?!”), the fact that the planet blew up and they were just waiting for a suitable new planet to be found. “I might have a...colleague who could help with that,” Kojass said. “Let me get back to you about that.”

Rolling onto his stomach, Gohan leaned off the edge of the bed and tried to listen in on the conversation downstairs. Things had gone well up until Kojass tried to convince Gohan to go into space with him and become a full-fledged Green Lantern, at which point Chi-Chi stepped in again. “I’m glad things are going so well,” she cut in, “but I’m not backin’ down on this.” So they were in the kitchen, discussing their points of view while Gohan thought about his opinion with no one else around to influence him. He was having a hard time. He knew he didn’t want to leave home so soon after getting back. Training with Piccolo had ultimately been worth it, but he’d missed his mom. And when his dad got back, he wanted to be there. But he also didn’t want to leave the Lantern Corps high and dry. Kojass told him that the bearer of his particular ring was meant to be in charge of Sector 2814, and without him there would be no Lantern for his sector. “And the ring can’t just be given away,” Kojass said. “Only under certain circumstances--like when the bearer is about to die.”

There was a knock at the door. “Gohan?” It was Chi-Chi. “Can we come in?” She opened the door without waiting for an answer. “We had an idea.”

“ _I_ had an idea,” Kojass muttered. “Rings can create copies of themselves. So if you created a copy of your ring, we could give it to someone else and have _them_ be the Lantern of Sector 2814 until you’re older--say, ten years from now.”

Gohan perked up. “Okay! That’ll work!” He held out his ring. “How do I do it? Is it like making a construct?”

“Basically, yes.” Kojass squeezed into the room. It had a hard time going through the doors in the Son house--it had been built for bipeds, not quadrupeds. “Just like before, when you made the dragon, picture what you want to create in your mind and--”

A ring identical to the one Gohan was already wearing popped into existence above his hand and he fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground. “Cool!” He held it up. “So who do I give this to?”

Kojass was shaking its head. “On your first try and everything...it’s a shame you’re so young that joining the Corps would be a problem. You really could be a prodigy.” Behind him, Chi-Chi beamed.

The ring jerked. Gohan only just held on. “Is it supposed to do that?” he asked.

Before Kojass could answer, the ring wrenched itself out of Gohan’s hand and smashed through his window, streaking into the sky and disappearing in a matter of seconds.

The room was silent for a moment. Then Kojass spoke up again. “It is _not_ supposed to do that.”

“Oh.” Gohan blushed and clasped his hands, twiddling his thumbs. “I could try again--”

“No, no, I wouldn’t,” Kojass hurriedly said. “It may very well just do exactly the same thing, and then we’d have _two_ Green Lantern rings unaccounted for, and that could be disastrous.” It tapped the end of its snout. “What we could do instead...your mother and I have spoken at length, and agreed that a juvenile joining the Corps would not be...smiled upon.”

“You’re darn right,” Chi-Chi agreed from behind it.

“So how about a compromise, since you can’t join us right now? Ten years from now, you will be almost a full adult, correct?”

“I’ll be sixteen.”

“Child,” Kojass said, smiling, “there are species whose lifespans are shorter still than that. But it is considered near adulthood for a human, or a Saiyan, am I right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then when you have reached the age of sixteen, I or another member of the Corps, should I be unavailable, will return here to speak on the matter again. For now, we’ll divide the protection of Sector 2814 between the rest of the Corps until you are able to defend it yourself. Does that seem fair?”

Gohan squirmed. He really didn’t want to tie himself down to a life of fighting crime in space. He wanted to be a scholar, or maybe an orthopedist, or even a dentist. But when it came down to it, it seemed like his options were either agreeing to Kojass’s terms or going into space immediately. So he nodded. “Okay. Sure.”

Kojass ruffled Gohan’s hair. “I will see you in ten Earth years, then. Until then, I have a rogue ring to find. Goodbye, Son Gohan, and may you and yours be free of fear.” Turning, he nodded once to Chi-Chi and scuttled out of the room.

Crawling across his bed to the window, Gohan watched Kojass walk across the yard to its spaceship. The door in the side closed behind it and the engines whirred to life before it blasted into the sky. He hadn’t even had a chance to wave before it disappeared.

He felt Chi-Chi’s hand on his shoulder. “Well, now that that’s settled,” she said, “I think it’s time to eat. Go wash up. That roast oughta be done by now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Chi-Chi so much have I mentioned that lately


	3. Son Gohan of Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan comes to terms with the fact that Goku’s not coming back for a while just in time for some...interesting news from Yamcha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm cranky so here have this despite it being shorter than normal  
> Also I'm posting this on May 9th so happy Piccolo Day everyone

Porunga disappeared and the sky went back to normal. Gohan looked at the ground, trying not to cry.

Goku wasn’t coming home.

Oh, he’d come home _eventually_. Bulma joked that he’d come home when he got hungry. But really, who knew how long he’d be away for this time?

Too much of Gohan’s childhood had already been spent away from one or both of his parents. It wasn’t _fair_.

Dende was next to him, holding his hand. “It’ll be okay, Gohan,” he said quietly. “Great Porunga said he’d come back. So he’ll come back.”

Gohan wished it were that simple. “But _when_ , though?”

“I don’t know,” Dende admitted. “But he _will_.” He looked wistfully at Piccolo and Gohan knew he was thinking about Nail and the Grand Elder.

“I’m sorry,” he started, but they were suddenly interrupted by Krillin, still in his broken Frieza armor, tackling Gohan in a hug.

“You’re alive!” he cried. “You made it out safe! You have no _idea_ how pissed your dad would be if anything happened to you!”

“I think I have a pretty good idea,” Gohan wheezed. “Um, Uncle Krillin, my ribs.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” Krillin released him and turned to Dende. “And Dende! You made it too! It looks like everyone’s here!” He paused and did a head count. “Except Tien and Chiaotzu. And...Goku, of course. I guess I should’ve figured from what the dragon was saying.” He propped his hands on his hips and tilted his head. “Could someone explain what happened? I was sort of, you know. Dead.”

“Come on,” Dende said, “I’ll take you to Moori. He’s the new Grand Elder; he can explain.” Waving to Gohan, he trotted off, Krillin trailing behind. Gohan was left standing by himself in a sea of adults.

Gohan fidgeted with the ring on his finger and looked around. Krillin wasn’t the only one who had come back to life--there was Yamcha, arms tight around Bulma, face buried in her hair. At least some people were happy.

In the time between getting his power ring and summoning Porunga, Gohan had spent most of his time that wasn’t devoted to homework working on mastering his ring’s powers. As promised, he’d let Bulma study it, but she hadn’t been able to find much, not even what material it was made from. It had frustrated her beyond belief--if she hadn’t been so busy working on all her other projects, he would’ve been surprized that she hadn’t demanded he hand it over to her indefinitely for further study. As it was, though, the ring still belonged to Gohan, and Gohan alone, so he got to decide what to do with it.

As it turned out, creating constructs was surprisingly easy. The hard part was getting them to do what you wanted. Sure, _making_ a giant glowing energy dragon looked cool, but Gohan couldn’t get it to do much besides stand around looking menacing. At this point, the best he could do was manipulate constructs no bigger than himself. But he had the next ten years to learn, and grow, and he would make sure that by the end of those ten years he had this Green Lantern thing down to a science.

But he’d _really_ been looking forward to showing his new powers to his dad when he got home. Not that showing Chi-Chi whenever he figured out how to do something new wasn’t great, or using his constructs when he played with Dende wasn’t fun, but he wanted to show Goku too. It wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it, and he’d do his best to not let it upset him too much. But not having his dad around hurt. It had hurt when he was training with Piccolo, it had hurt when he was going to Namek with Bulma and Krillin, and it hurt now. Both times before, though, he’d held his head high and continued on, and that was exactly what he was going to do now.

Goku was alive, and he would come home. For now, though, Gohan was going to get even better at using the Green Lantern powers so that when Goku did come back, he’d have even more to show him!

“Oh yeah,” he heard Yamcha say. He looked over to see him digging around in the pocket of his gi. “While I was on King Kai’s, the weirdest thing happened.”

“Weirder than being dead?” Bulma quipped.

He stuck his tongue out at her. “Ha ha. This thing came at me out of nowhere and smacked me right in the face.” Yamcha pulled his hand out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a ring.

A green ring.

Gohan didn’t have to be particularly close to know exactly what the ring looked like. There was an exact duplicate on his own finger, after all.

“It was super weird,” Yamcha was saying. “There was this voice in my head, too, saying that I could overcome great fear or something, and that’s all I’ve been able to figure out about it--ow! Hey! Where are we going?”

Bulma had grabbed his arm and started dragging him in the direction of her lab, the gleam in her eye that Gohan had learned meant she was going to go into full-on scientist mode. He jogged off after them. “Oh, man, Yamcha,” she said, grinning, “we have _so_ much to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit you guys Yamcha's gonna actually be relevant for once POWERHOUSE EXCITEMENT

**Author's Note:**

> Kuji's name comes from "namekuji," the same word Namek comes from, and yes namekuji of course means slug. I am not original.


End file.
